EMC: Abstract: Altar of Fire

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Altar of Fire

• 1976 ----- color ----- 44 min ----- 16mm/vhs
• A detailed account of the world's oldest surviving ritual, the Agnicayana, a Vedic sacrifice to Agni, god of fire, dating back 3,000 years. Long thought to be extinct, and never before witnessed by outsiders, the twelve day ritual was performed in 1975 by Nambudiri Brahmins in a village in Kerala, southwestern India. The central feature of the ritual is the construction and consecration of the main altar shaped like a bird. The altar represents the creator god, Prajapati, who created the world through his own dismemberment. Many elements of the ceremony seem to reveal a synthesis of pre-Vedic and Indo-European ritual elements. Directed by Robert Gardner, Dead Birds.
• Topics: (Anthropology: Cultural, Religions: Eastern, South Asian Studies)

		Educational Media Collection risimiki@u.washington.edu Modified: January 11, 2007